24 May 2009

The Republican game plan is to make it look like Obama is about to empty the prison camp down in Cuba, and turn out the lights and let the terrorists be set loose across America.

By Larry Ray / The Rag Blog / May 24, 2009

With only 23 percent of Americans now claiming to be Republicans, what’s left of their party has decided to attack Barack Obama for "not having a plan" to close the Guantanamo Bay Detainee Center. It has been a loud, shameless exercise in fear-mongering.The protean Senators have said, "Never mind the priority of halting a national financial collapse and possible economic depression in America. Forget the powder keg that is the Taliban and al-Qaida threat in Pakistan and Afghanistan. Personal political futures back home are much more important.

The Senate let personal political priorities guide their 90 to 6 vote to withhold the $80 million Obama requested for the Guantanamo closure till he gives them “a plan.” Scared silly Democrats also joined in the disgraceful fear-mongering vote.

No one would like to get Mr. Bush's nightmarish mess cleared up more than Mr. Obama. His Thursday speech made clear that work has been underway by legal, military, and diplomatic experts to solve the complex problem since he took office less than 150 days ago. But Republicans desperate to woo back lost votes are all screaming BOOGIE MAN COMING!!

They warn that dangerous terrorists are going to be moved to jails and prisons in their districts back home where they could break out and hide under YOUR bed waiting to get you! The scenario continues with terrorists being turned loose with a new suit of clothes and a few bucks, on the streets of YOUR TOWN! Shamefully, Majority Leader, Harry Reid said, "Part of what we don't want is them be put in prisons in the United States." That's the way to support "real change," Harry.

The whipped up fear exploits a deeply buried American realization that if we or our family members had been rounded up, shackled, tortured and held with no charges and no rights for seven years we would be mad as hell. Just as mad as the Gitmo prisoners who have been treated that way and are now "headed for the streets of America." OMG

The Republican game plan is to make it look like Obama is about to empty the prison camp down in Cuba, and turn out the lights and let the terrorists be set loose across America. Lots of plain folks, aided by Dick Cheney’s mad raving on cable TV may actually believe this nonsense.

Just so the politically terrorized can all sleep at night without having to leave the lights on, let's review some facts:

Thirty three international terrorists, including those with al-Qaida connections are locked up in the Federal prison known as the “Alcatraz of the Rockies,” or ADMAX Florence in Florence, Colorado, and there has been no public outcry at all.

Any bad guys transferred from Guantanamo to the USA will be housed in maximum security, super-max prisons, like the Fort Leavenworth prison and the Florence ADMAX. No dangerous Guantanamo prisoners are to be released in the USA. The most dangerous of the prisoners held in Guantanamo are to be incarcerated as “enemy combatants” in maximum security prisons, as will others awaiting trial in a federal court of law in the US. No one has ever escaped from a super-max prison.

Terrorists and violent criminals are kept in solitary confinement, and when moved outside their cells one hour a day, they are in leg shackles accompanied by three guards. They rarely see other prisoners, are allowed few visitors and their mail is monitored. Ramzi Yousef, who headed the group that carried out the first bombing of the World Trade Center in February 1993 faces this daily routine as a prisoner in the $60 million Florence, Colorado super-max prison.

Let’s look at how many prisoners we are talking about after Guantanamo is finally closed. Since 2002, 775 detainees have been brought to Guantanamo. Some 420 have been released to countries of origin or other countries with no charges against them. In late January 2004, U.S. officials finally released three children aged 13 to 15 swept up as “enemy combatants” and returned them to Afghanistan. As of January 2009, approximately 245 detainees remain and only three of them have been charged.

The US Department of Defense on February 11, 2008, charged terrorists Khalid Sheikh Mohammed, Ramzi Binalshibh, Mustafa Ahmad al-Hawsawi, Ali Abd al-Aziz Ali and Walid Bin Attash for the September 11 attacks under the Military Commissions Act of 2006. Untangling the details of trying these 911 terrorists is part of what is taking time to find a constitutionally and internationally legal approach to handling these cases which involve serious questions, not the least of which include torture.

Earlier, U.S. officials have said they intended to eventually put 60 to 80 prisoners on trial and free the rest. But what to do with those held for years, and never charged? That is one of many tough problems taking so much time to work out. Mr. Cheney and some hard core conservatives would prefer to keep them locked up in Cuba forever, innocent or not, Constitution be damned.

It would seem that our Congressmen and Senators, would all be pitching in on a a plan to work out a diplomatic, constitutional way to deal with these thorny problems and close this sad chapter in our history.

Yes these prisoners include dangerous terrorists who want to hurt America. But all have to be dealt with under the law. Holding them in maximum-security prisons poses no threat to our security at home. Continuing to do what we have been doing for the past seven years in Guantanamo remains a growing threat to our security.

We cannot continue to hold these prisoners in indefinite limbo on our military base in Cuba. The United States Supreme Court has ruled that they are entitled to the protection of the U.S. Constitution, the same constitution our Congressmen and Senators have sworn to defend and uphold.

[Retired journalist Larry Ray is a Texas native and former Austin television news anchor. He also posts at The iHandbill.]

Onward Through the Blog

The Rag Blog is a reader-supported newsmagazine produced by activist journalists committed to progressive social change. The Rag Blog is published by the New Journalism Project, a 501(c)(3) Texas non-profit.

New Journalism Project, inc.P.O. Box 16442Austin, Texas 78761-6442

THE RAG: A FilmPart I of a documentary filmabout the life and times ofAustin's pioneering undergroundnewspaper, The Rag (1966-1977),by People's History in Texas. The Rag Blog and Rag Radio are a digital-era rebirth of The Rag.

Receive Regular E-Mail Notices About What's New on The Rag Blog

Comment Policy: This blog enforces a specific comment policy that prohibits personal attack, goading and harassment, and other malicious remarks. We will delete remarks considered inappropriate, at the discretion of the editors. We will also delete all commercial solicitations.

BOOKS / Alan Wieder : Paul Buhle's 'Radical Jesus: A Graphic History of Faith' by Alan Wieder / The Rag Blog. Noted historian Paul Buhle, who has published an acclaimed series of nonfiction comics, is one of the most prolific and insightful critics from the American left. "Radical Jesus," which communicates the social message of Jesus Christ in comic format, investigates the inequalities that exist in the world through a theological lens.

Rabbi Arthur Waskow : Israel, Hillel, and Idolatry by Rabbi Arthur Waskow / The Rag Blog. Hillel International, the "home" for many Jewish college students of diverse backgrounds and beliefs, has been beset with controversy about when uncritical support among American Jews for Israel becomes "idolatry of the State."

Paul Krassner : Is There a Doctor in the House? by Paul Krassner / The Rag Blog. The Coachella Valley in Southern California hosted a massive four-day health clinic that helped more than 2,500 uninsured patients. Krassner points out that California leads the nation in people without health insurance and says that "the insurance industry has a preexisting condition known in technical terminology as greed."

Kate Braun : Winter Solstice Falls on Saturn's Day by Kate Braun / The Rag Blog. Our celebrations during the Winter Solstice take from many traditions, including the Roman Saturnalia, Druid customs, the German "Yule," and the birth of Jesus; and it was Queen Victoria who popularized the lighted Christmas tree.

Allen Young : Ralph Dungan, the 'Good Liberal' by Allen Young / The Rag Blog. A recent obituary of Ralph Dungan, one of President John F. Kennedy's top aides who later served as ambassador to Chile, reminds Allen of a revealing experience he had with the man referred to by a historian as a "good liberal."

Ed Felien : A Good [Angry White] Man With a Gun by Ed Felien / The Rag Blog. Paul Anthony Ciancia considered himself a "good man with a gun" -- a warrior against the traitors who were taking over our government, bankrupting our currency, and trying to establish a New World Order -- when he walked into the Los Angeles airport and opened fire with an assault rifle.

Lamar W. Hankins : Right-Wing Rants and the Abominable Straw Man by Lamar W. Hankins / The Rag Blog. The Internet is a marvelous tool when used honestly and correctly, and with recognition of its limitations. But it is also home to angry rants, often from the far right, that make ridiculous claims -- like the one (that actually originated on a satirical site) saying that the Obama administration was setting up gasoline stations to provide free gas to low-income [read: black] people.

Harry Targ : My Nelson Mandela by Harry Targ / The Rag Blog. An irony of 21st century historical discourse is how real historic figures -- like the late Nelson Mandela -- get lionized, sanitized, and redefined as defenders of the ongoing order rather than activists who committed their lives to revolutionary change.

Michael James : Back to Uptown, 1965-1966 by Michael James / The Rag Blog. Mike continues his remarkable memoir, accompanied -- and inspired by -- photos from his upcoming book. His adventures -- and the making of an activist -- continue as he heads back to Uptown Chicago, "progressing along my path with another left turn and a big step into America."

Alice Embree : Chile and the Politics of Memory by Alice Embree / The Rag Blog. Chileans went to the polls Sunday and appear to be reelecting Socialist president Michelle Bachelet on the 40th anniversary of the bloody U.S.-supported coup against Socialist president Salvador Allende. Alice writes about the dramatic contradictions in Chilean politics and history.

Paul Krassner : A Tale of Two Alternative Media Conferences by Paul Krassner / The Rag Blog. Paul remembers the original Alternative Media Conference in June 1970 at Goddard College in Vermont -- and it was a wild and wooly affair headlined by the likes of Ram Dass, Harvey Kurtzman, and Art Spiegelman -- as the college hosts another conference keynoted by progressive radio host Thom Hartmann.

Harry Targ : STEM and the Tyranny of the Meme by Harry Targ / The Rag Blog. From the fear of "falling behind the Soviets" to the missile gap and, more recently the wars on drugs and terrorism, the fear of falling behind some fictional adversaries is an ongoing "meme" used by economic, political, and military elites. The latest? Now it's the "STEM crisis" and the fear that we're falling behind other nations in science and technology .

Alice Embree : Anne Lewis' New Website Brings Austin Movement History to Life by Alice Embree / The Rag Blog. Noted documentary filmmaker Anne Lewis has created a website called Austin Beloved Community that uses audio, film, photos, maps, and personal recollections to create a "digital collage" about the struggle for social and economic justice in Austin from the 1880s to the present. Alice interviews Lewis about the unique project.

BOOKS / Ron Jacobs : Marc Myers Tells Us 'Why Jazz Happened' by Ron Jacobs / The Rag Blog. Ron reviews a new book on America's own music in which Marc Myers "provides the reader with a deep, rich, and broad perspective on the confluence of jazz and U.S. history in the decades following World War Two."

David McReynolds : We Are All Wounded Veterans by David McReynolds / The Rag Blog. Long-time pacifist writer and activist McReynolds says there's something "infinitely sad" about the recent celebration of Veterans Day. "In the bad wars -- which are the only wars we have fought for some time now -- there is the terrible knowledge that the enemy was never really the enemy," he says.

Michael James : Going Off Campus, 1965 by Michael James / The Rag Blog. Mike continues to share experiences and images from his rich history as an activist and adventurer -- that will be published in an upcoming book, "Michael Gaylord James' Pictures from the Long Haul." Here Mike reports on the Free Speech Movement at Berkeley, community organizing in Oakland, and his travels across the country in a 1957 Plymouth station wagon "drive-away."